Haley: Protesting OK, but no sleeping bags

COLUMBIA— Protesters declared a victory Monday after their post-curfew demonstration resulted in no arrests, and the director of South Carolina's public safety agency called last week's 6 p.m. order to leave Statehouse grounds a misunderstanding.

More than 150 people gathered at the Statehouse to challenge Gov. Nikki Haley's order to arrest anyone protesting at the Statehouse after 6, following last week's arrest of 19 Occupy Columbia protesters for unauthorized use of the grounds.

With officers watching from the sidelines, protesters chanted that Haley's order took away First Amendment rights of free speech. Some put tape over their mouths, with 6 p.m. written on it.

At one point, protesters warned attendees to prepare to leave if they didn't want to get arrested, but nothing happened. After the hour-long rally ended with no interaction at all with police, some protesters met at the base of a monument where, five days earlier, they were taken away in plastic handcuffs during a driving rain.

Public Safety Director Leroy Smith then told reporters that protesters can stay on the grounds, as long as they don't camp out with sleeping bags and food tables. Protests can continue indefinitely if they're peaceful, he said.

"We're not going to allow any living gear. Our focus is the manner that they're here. We have the utmost respect of their right to voice their concerns," Smith said. "They're assembling peacefully. We encourage that."

He said a deadline had to be established, and the sleeping bags and camping gear on Statehouse grounds were the objection. Protesters who began surrounding Smith pointed out all of that was removed before arrests began.

In response, Smith said "the totality of the situation" caused the arrests, due to the earlier living quarters and protesters locking arms to prepare for their arrest.

The dusk-to-dawn ban on protesting was a misunderstanding, he said.

"Misunderstandings don't end with plastic handcuffs," said Tim Liszewski, who was among those arrested and had served as the group's liaison to state officials. The change in position, he said, makes his arrest "more untenable by the second."

In issuing her order in a news conference last Wednesday, Haley said, "At night, we can't protect you. At night, I can't ask the taxpayers to protect you. At night we're asking you not to be here. So from 6 o'clock until daylight tomorrow, we're going to have everybody leave. If you want to come back at daylight tomorrow, we welcome you to come back. If you want to come back every day until February, you can. But after the hours of 6'clock, if you are here, you will be removed."

After the protest ended Monday, her office put out a statement.

"The governor loves when people find the power of their voice, and Occupy Columbia is no exception. They are welcome — as is any citizen — on the Statehouse grounds, but we have been clear: the Statehouse is not an unsanitary campground," said her spokesman, Rob Godfrey. "They can't sleep there. They can't live there. And they can't destroy public property."

While Smith would not acknowledge any shift in position, protesters said state officials are clearly backpedaling. Smith declined to say when he and the governor decided how to react to Monday's protest.

"We're declaring victory," said Brett Bursey, director of the SC Progressive Network, which organized Monday's free speech rally. "We did the right thing to challenge a clear overreach of authority."

Before the Statehouse rally, protesters marched to city hall, where Mayor Steve Benjamin sent a message that he stood by their right to protest. City police did not participate in the arrests.

Monday's protest brought out people of all ages not previously associated with the Occupy Columbia movement.

Lawyer Benjamin Mabry said he didn't even agree with the Occupy protest, but Haley's order outraged him. He noted his late father, a World War II veteran and Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, fought for free speech.

"I think they're not well informed, but I don't care. I've got to stand up," said Mabry, wearing a suit and tie and carrying a sign that read, "The First Amendment Rules." He was prepared to go to jail, noting he had $100 and a toothbrush in his pocket.

Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, carried a sign that read "Free Speech Zone" and told protesters, "I'm here to remind you that this house is your house, and to let you know that in spite of what the governor says, this is a free speech zone."

Smith made clear that arrests would continue if sleeping bags returned. Bureau of Protective Services Chief Zackary Wise said the charge would be different from the one for those arrested last week. He cited the statute's number but couldn't recall the crime.

Some protesters said they would challenge that threat, too.

"It's slightly improved they're walking that back," protester Bradley Powell said of the curfew. "They never had an understanding of what laws they were enforcing, but this issue's not settled."

Jay Bender, a Columbia lawyer and state open records law expert, said the Occupy Columbia protesters committed no crime. He said their arrests show a lack of officials' knowledge of the Constitution and of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on a similar event in 1961, when police arrested about 200 black protesters who marched to the Statehouse to protest segregation.

Bender said the Occupy Columbia protesters seemed to be a model of cooperation, as they complied with a no-tent rule, didn't hassle Statehouse visitors, didn't interfere with traffic, agreed to stop drumming and chanting by 10 p.m., paid for a portable toilet, and moved to different spots to avoid damaging the grass.

"Up until the governor decided that citizens using their Statehouse was inappropriate, it was a perfect example of how government can respect the rights of citizens and allow peaceable assembly," he said.